OER

Background

Open Educational Resources (OER) include e-textbooks, videos, animation, rubrics, simulations, assessments, and any other tools that support teaching and learning. In general, OER are in the public domain, open, free, and may be used and modified. Specific definitions from SETDA, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and UNESCO are highlighted below.

SETDA

OER are “teaching and learning materials licensed in such a way that they are free and may be used, reused, remixed, and otherwise customized to meet specific needs” In other words, OER are teaching, learning, and resource materials, tools, and media that reside in the public domain and may be used and re-purposed freely by educators, students, and self-learner. SETDA

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

UNESCO

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation. UNESCO

OER items can range from a single lesson or instructional support material to a complete unit or full-course materials.

They include e-textbooks, videos, rubrics, assessments, and any other tools that support teaching and learning.

Open vs Free

OER are teaching and learning materials that are free and may be used, reused, mixed, and otherwise customized to meet specific needs. Free materials available for students, teachers, schools or districts which are not openly licensed do not have the same level of permitted uses such as adaptation, retention, or wide scale distribution. If the resources have an open license, teachers can change the OER to create a new resource and share that resources with others. Students can also create OER to share with their peers.

Key Questions

What is your district policy on who owns teacher and student created content?

Do you know how to apply an open license?

Type

Cost

Licensing

Flexibility

Example

Open Educational Resources

Free
or minimal cost (non-electronic print costs)

Open Licensing (Creative Commons or other)

Yes
License that permits the free use and re-purposing of the content by others. (some restrictions may apply)

Common Misconception

Any free digital resource posted on a free accessible website is open and fair for adaptation and re-use. A digital resources is only considered OER if it has an open license.

Licensing

With appropriate licensing, OER can have a significant impact on teaching and learning. Teachers using OER are able to find free materials appropriately licensed and then choose materials from various sources to meet the needs of their students. In some cases, teachers may wish to change the OER to create a new resource and share that resources with others. Students can also create OER to share with their peers. When using OER, states, districts, schools, educators, and students need to have a basic understanding of the copyright and licensing laws.

Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that offers free copyright licenses to facilitate sharing and use of teacher-created work, has six main licenses so that reuse, revision, and redistribution rules are defined at the outset. The six options (with their corresponding symbols) are listed in the following table:

Attribution: “lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered.”

Attribution ShareAlike: “lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms….All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.”

Attribution No Derivatives: “allows for redistribution, commercial and non- commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.”

Attribution Non-Commercial: “lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work, and although their new works must acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.”

Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike: “lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.”

Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives: “is the most restrictive…, allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.”

Copyright

Refers to the ownership of intellectual property. Copyright automatically attaches to the author when work is created. Work is any form of expression that reflects minimal creativity by the author including lesson plans, animations, and rubrics.

License

Refers to permission for others to use or to share this intellectual property without the copyright owner relinquishing its ownership.

Common Misconception

Any free digital resource posted on a free accessible website is open and fair for adaptation and re-use. A digital resources is only considered OER if it has an open license.

Locating OER

OER can fall into many different categories of instructional materials. Determine your need and search critically for resources.

Teacher/student usage of “building block” open resources (filter by open licenses on search engines)

Individual classroom use of open supplemental lessons/units (state or non-profit OER repositories)

District adoption/interim adoption of open full curriculum materials (state or non-profit OER repositories, OER developer sites)

Building/district creation of open full curriculum materials (internal development)

Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction provides Resources for Using OER that can be used by school districts and teachers interested in implementing OER and communicating with stakeholders in their educational communities.

OER Community of Practice

An online community of practice focused on OER, intended for educators who are using OER, those who are interested but not yet using OER and anyone else interested in OER in K-12.

Reviews & Curation

When selecting OER, the quality of the content should be considered. Many factors contribute to quality instructional materials. Though definitions may vary somewhat from one professional organization to the next, all agree that quality materials should be robust materials aligned to learning standards regardless of whether the materials are print or digital, full course materials or supplemental materials, open or all rights reserved copyright. Visit the Quality Materials section of this guide to learn more.

#GoOpen

The U.S. Department of Education is encouraging the use of OER to change teaching and learning. District and state leaders are working together with education technology companies and nonprofit organizations to share effective strategies for OER.

Statewide #GoOpen initiatives are committed to supporting districts and educators with the transition to the use of high-quality OER.

#GoOpen States will:

Adopt/Implement a statewide technology strategy that includes the use of openly licensed resources as a central component.

Accessibility

With the shift from print to digital, education leaders must proactively consider the accessibility of digital resources for all students, including students with disabilities. If accessibility features are not designed into digital materials, it will be difficult or impossible for some students to use them due to a range of physical, sensory and/or cognitive disabilities. If materials cannot be used by these students, their ability to learn and achieve will be adversely effected.

The AEM Center provides resources to help educators select and/or create accessible OER content to support learning in inclusive settings. Resources include a set of quality indicators for incorporating OERs into a robust procurement system for AEM.

New York Case Study

Specific to OER, The New York State Education Department (NYSED) encourages the implementation of OER materials using Creative Commons Licensing for educational purposes. Currently, the state does not have an official definition of OER but supports a general description, Open Educational Resources (OER) as teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost.

In addition, NYSED developed and maintains EngageNY, a website with instructional materials and resources to support educators with professional learning tools and resources. Materials on EngageNY are considered OER and can be used, re-used, and modified.

In New York, school districts make local decisions regarding instructional materials. In Yonkers, New York, the district provides instructional resources, including OER through Yonkers Online Quick Links, the district’s open and recommended digital resource area. It is designed to support easy access for students, staff and families. Individual Yonkers’ schools select their own instructional materials based on instructional needs.

State Policies

The New York legislature has launched initiatives and shifted policies to support the transition to digital learning. In 2011, New York passed the Instructional Materials Aid amendment, which allows local education agencies flexibility in the use of state funding for acquisition of instructional resources, including digital content. In 2014, the New York state legislature passed the Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014. The measure authorized the state to issue and sell up to $2 billion in bonds to finance improved educational technology and infrastructure in New York schools. To receive funds, districts must submit a “Smart Schools Investment Plan” outlining their use of funds.

New York State Education Department (NYSED) encourages the implementation of OER materials using Creative Commons Licensing for educational purposes. NYSED does not have a formal definition for OER nor a policy regarding OER implementation however, supports a general description of OER as “teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost.”

NYSED has launched two programs to encourage the implementation of OER Materials.

EngageNY, a website with instructional materials and resources to support educators with professional learning tools and resources. Materials on EngageNY are considered OER and can be used, re-used, and modified.

Engage NY

NYSED developed and maintains EngageNY, a website with instructional materials and resources to support educators with professional learning tools and resources. Materials on EngageNY are considered OER and can be used, re-used, and modified. EngageNY includes resources for curriculum and instruction; teacher/leader effectiveness; data driven instruction; professional development; and parents and families. EngageNY also includes a video library featured the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and information on instructional shifts.

New York’s Virtual Advanced Placement (VAP) program assists in the development of open courseware for Advanced Placement classes focusing on at-risk and economically disadvantaged and at-risk students.

Yonkers Public Schools

Yonkers Public Schools

Yonkers Public Schools (Yonkers) is located in Yonkers, New York, on the south end of the Hudson Valley, only minutes away from Manhattan. Yonkers is the fourth largest school district in New York serving a diverse population across 39 schools grades PreK through Grade 12 with 26,000 students from 100 different nationalities. 76.6% of the students are eligible to receive free or reduced price lunch.

Digital Footprint

Yonkers instructional goals are to incorporate the highest quality instructional resources and techniques that support the varied needs of teachers and students. Instructional technology tools are key components as they support differentiated instruction and extended learning beyond the school day.

Yonkers utilizes high quality OER to support instruction. OER offers a high impact instructional support with a low financial impact, thus allowing the district to maximize available funding streams.

“The varied and engaging nature of many OER resources, the ability of OER to reach students beyond the standard school day, and the positive impact found through use of particular OER tools are some of the many benefits of using OER.”
– Lisa Perry, Director Instructional Technology and Science, Yonkers Public Schools

Over 10,000 microcomputers are currently available for instructional purposes and the number of devices continues to increase. Yonkers believes, “Infusing the vast capabilities of the new technologies into every aspect of instruction enriches teaching and learning engaging students through technology that is part of their every day communication.”Project-based learning is enriched through interconnectivity with the use of SmartBoards, blogs, social media, Podcasting, videoconferencing and virtual classrooms. For more information visit: Yonkers Technology Instruction.

Implementation

Implementation of OER

In New York, the choice of instructional materials is a local decision. In Yonkers, the district provides instructional resources, including OER through Yonkers Online Quick Links, the district’s open and recommended digital resource area. It is designed to support easy access for students, staff and families. Individual schools select instructional materials based on instructional needs. Schools in Yonkers used various OER to achieve their instructional goals. Specifically, Palisades Preparatory School integrates OER for science and Cornell Academy implements EngageNY (OER developed by the state) for mathematics and language arts in grades K-6.

Palisades Preparatory School

Many teachers at Palisades Preparatory School teach in a blended learning environment. Science teacher, Alex Romero, utilizes digital content, including OER to engage students. Ms. Romero uses Moodle as the delivery platform for her science class and estimates that 75% of her instructional materials are digital. Students can access teacher created and student created content through the Moodle platform. Ms. Romero likes to combine virtual lab experiences with face-to-face hands on inquiry. Ms. Romero utilizes virtual labs from PhET, an OER that offers interactive science and math simulations. For example, students worked together to design a 3D model. As part of the lesson, students explained the steps on how to create the model and reported what they learned after using the simulation. Ms. Romero encourages students to “experience the interactive simulations and not memorize,” thus fostering 21st century skills.

Ms. Romero promotes student involvement in creating OER content as part of their learning experience. Students created their own tutorials using Jing, a free screencasting app, and shared these tutorials with their peers. Students also developed their own rubrics to evaluate projects and case studies.

“It is important for students to develop their own rubrics, so that they know what is being assessed and why” – Alex Romero, Palisades Preparatory Science Teacher.

At the end of the school year, students evaluated the science course and made recommendations to Ms. Romero about lessons, including suggestions for modifying or deleting content.

Please watch this short video to hear directly from Ms. Romero and her students about teaching and learning in a digital learning environment.

Cornell Academy

Cornell Academy serves students in PreK-6 with a focus on English language development. At Cornell Academy technology is an integral part of enhancing student learning. Most classrooms have computers and an interactive whiteboard for instruction.

Recently, Cornell Academy started to use the EngageNY OER for math instruction. Teachers from Cornell Academy attended a district workshop to learn more about EngageNY. Over 70 educators from around the district attended this workshop and instructional leaders encouraged educators to pilot the EngageNY open content. In January 2014, Cornell teachers began implementing the EngageNY math curriculum in their classrooms. The pilot was successful based on both teacher and student feedback, and starting in September 2014, every math teacher in grades K-6 at Cornell Academy used EngageNY math open resources. According to Principal Beglane, “the teachers were the ones driving the change from the old instructional materials to use EngageNY.” Principal Beglane supports his teachers and encourages them to research and use the best instructional materials that they can find – in this case, EngageNY. One of the biggest improvements to EngageNY is the addition of new curriculum maps, which allow educators to quickly locate materials in either English Language Arts or Mathematics at any grade level.

In order to gain community understanding and support, Cornell hosted an open house for parents to review the math modules and every year teachers develop a glossary to send home to parents. In 2015, Cornell expanded its use of EngageNY to English language arts (ELA).

“With EngageNY, students are learning high order thinking skills and making connections to the real world, which all stakeholders want to see.” – Ed Berglane, Principal, Cornell Academy

“With EngageNY, students are learning higher order thinking skills and making connections to the real world, which all stakeholders want to see.”

Ed Berglane, Principal, Cornell Academy

21st Century Classroom

At Cornell Academy technology is an integral part of enhancing student learning.

“It is important for students to develop their own rubrics, so that they know what is being assessed and why”

Alex Romero, Science Teacher, Palisades Preparatory School

Students Impact the Curriculum

At the end of the school year, students evaluated the science course and made recommendations to Romero about lessons, including suggestions for modifying or deleting content.

Vetting

In New York, school districts make their own decisions in evaluating instructional materials. Yonkers uses a standard vetting process for all instructional materials, including OER. Small teams of content specialists provide feedback on the OER through exploration, discussion, and testing of the open resource. As part of this process, Yonkers often invites content specialists that are not comfortable using digital tools to participate in the evaluation of the resources. This approach provides information on the potential adoption rate of a resource with various users. Yonkers strives to complete this process quickly so that the best possible instructional materials are available for teachers and students.Yonkers also utilizes a crowdsourcing approach by encouraging administrators and teachers to test new resources and share the results. After an open resource is approved, it is shared through the district’s learning system, Yonkers Online, and Quick Links, the district’s open resource area.

Yonkers noted that when selecting an OER, you need to be thoughtful and assess not only the resource but the related aspects of the resource such as privacy considerations, or potential future or tangential costs. For example, What data is gathered through the portal, and does it have implications for the district in terms of privacy or other factors?

“The varied and engaging nature of many OER resources, the ability of OER to reach students beyond the standard school day, and the positive impact found through use of particular OER tools are some of the many benefits of using OER.”

Achieve, in collaboration with leaders from the OER community, developed eight rubrics to evaluate the quality of instructional resources. Achieve also partnered with OER Commons to develop an online evaluation tool. OER Commons, an online repository for open education resources, is now hosting the tool and its resulting evaluation data. Resources rated on OER Commons create a pool of metadata, and this metadata will be shared through the Learning Registry with other interested repositories.

This paper, published with Foresight Law and Policy, complements SETDA’s prior digital transition policy briefs by examining strategies for ensuring digital content quality, including exploration of the specific quality-control challenges and opportunities associated with OER.

Professional Learning

To best support students and teachers, Yonkers provides professional learning and training opportunities through just-in-time coaching, push-in coaching, collaborative development, workshops, shared communication opportunities such as through Instructional Liaison meetings, faculty meetings, and discussion boards.

In 2013, Yonkers provided a professional learning opportunity to over 70 educators to encourage the implementation of the EngageNY curriculum. This session sparked the implementation of OER materials in a variety of schools including Cornell Academy. Since this time, educators have started to integrate OER individually.

“Once a teacher sees the value of an OER to support instruction, they are eager to adopt it and use the resource to engage students”

Professional Learning

Educators – teachers and administrators – need to be able to choose the technology tools and resources most appropriate for their instructional practices to best meet the needs of students. This necessitates professional learning opportunities in content, programs and applications, as well as ongoing, sustained on-site support for teachers.

Budget

Budget Impact

In Yonkers, OER is beneficial, as it is a low cost means to support instruction. Yonkers considers any instructional resources’ return on investment, weighing the purpose of the resource and the cost. In Yonkers, some teachers are migrating towards digital tools (including OER) to replace text books. An example of this is with the EngageNY materials, which some schools are adopting as their preferred resource. When appropriate, an OER is preferred since it is more cost effective.

Budgetary Questions to Consider

What costs would you incur to modify the OER to fit your district/schools learning standards?

Can you provide sufficient time to teachers to identify the OER to be used in the classroom?

What is the cost comparison between using digital OER and printing OER materials?

For the first iteration of the OER chemistry materials, the teachers primarily used the content available on the CK-12 platform. The CK-12 website has free open source K-12 materials that can be modified and mixed, as needed. The content was contained in flexbooks, where the teachers selected specific chapters and content to include in the biology digital materials.

Each summer, teams of district teachers meet to update the OER materials; constantly adding additional resources and images, including student feedback. During this process, reviewers target areas where students are struggling or where they have misconceptions. In addition, specific textbooks were edited to meet the expectations of concurrent enrollment courses at Utah Valley University.

“”I really liked how the example problems were explained step by step in such a way that if I missed a class or something, I could use it to teach myself or review a subject. I also really like being able to write in it and keep it.”

Introductory chemistry text for use by students in Nebo School District general chemistry and concurrent enrollment chemistry. This book targets the Utah State Core Curriculum for chemistry with additional content.

Utah has geared up to begin providing teachers, students, and parents with materials to support the Utah Core Standards, instruction, and teaching. Created by groups of content and teaching experts, including university faculty, district and school specialists, teachers, and USOE staff.

The Utah Open Textbook project is examining the deeper learning and cost savings that can be achieved when open textbooks replace traditional, expensive textbooks in public high school science classrooms.

State Policies

Shift to Digital

In 2001 the Utah State Textbook Commission changed its name to the Utah State Instructional Materials Commission to reflect interest in emerging digital and multimedia formats for instructional materials. Since that time, Utah has been evaluating digital instructional materials through an annual review process.

Utah’s Instructional Materials Center recommends textbooks and other forms of curriculum to the Utah State Office of Education. Teachers meet to evaluate the available instruction materials, assessing strengths and weaknesses of the instructional materials, and to ensure that the state core curriculum is included in the materials. Instructional materials that meet at least 80 percent of the required curriculum and have no other major issues are placed on the state approved list.

In Utah, each school district has the constitutional authority to use digital resources and innovative educational technologies as they deem appropriate to meet educational goals and requirements. Districts may use allotted funds for the purchase of technology as determined by local boards of education. However, the state provides resources to support the district level decisions. Utah maintains the Recommended Instructional Materials System (RIMS), an online state database that educators can sort by publisher, subject, category, course, and adoption action, such as “Recommended Teacher Resource.” The state’s adoption process is to provide a general list of approved materials, but ultimate decision-making rests with local education agencies.

OER Initiative

Utah defines OER as materials that have been created using content that is not copyrighted and therefore restricted in use. OER are openly licensed materials that can be used for teaching, learning, student support, and teacher support. While they are openly licensed, they are not free: there is a substantial effort involved in collecting and reviewing resources to ensure that they are aligned to the Utah Core Standards and that they are updated and improved on a regular basis.

OER read more

In January 2012 the Utah Office of Education announced that it would support the development of “open textbooks” in key areas, including language arts, science, and math. In the first year, teachers’ grades 7-12 from all the core science subjects met for two days to create an initial textbook to target the state core curriculum. Teachers from twenty-three districts and seven charter schools contributed to the writing and creation of the state textbooks. Teachers used resources from CK-12 and Thunderbolt Kids, as well as the science textbooks created by Nebo School District. In the second year, selected teachers revised the textbooks based on feedback from teachers to include some specific ELA strategies for vocabulary and reading. In the third year, teachers revised the textbooks again based on feedback from teachers, students and parents. Teachers worked to add links to appropriate online interactive materials to support learning objectives. The state textbooks are available in digital format under a creative commons license on the state OER website. The website also gives a link to order the books printed at less than $5 each. As of October, 30,000 state books printed with many more copies downloaded.

In the fall of 2012, the Office of Education encouraged districts and schools throughout the state to consider adopting the state developed OER textbooks. The decision to promote OER on such a broad scale comes after two years of a pilot project in creation and use of OER textbooks for science. The development of these textbooks was led by David Wiley, a faculty member in Brigham Young University’s School of Education. Each pilot was conducted by the Utah Open Textbook Project, a partnership involving BYU, Nebo School District, and the Office of Education.

The Utah Education Network is providing teachers, students, and parents with materials to support the Utah Core Standards, instruction, and teaching. Created by groups of content and teaching experts, including university faculty, district and school specialists, teachers, and USOE staff.

The K-12 OER Collaborative creates high-quality, comprehensive OER resources to support K-12 mathematics and English language arts. The K-12 Collaborative includes 12 states and several supporting organizations, including Learning Accelerator, CCSSO, Achieve, SETDA, and iNACOL.

Utah has geared up to begin providing teachers, students, and parents with materials to support the Utah Core Standards, instruction, and teaching. Created by groups of content and teaching experts, including university faculty, district and school specialists, teachers, and USOE staff.

Nebo School District

Nebo School District is located in Utah County, Utah. Nebo is the seventh largest school district in Utah serving nearly 30,000 students. Nebo, a suburban school district, is one of the fast growing districts and includes five high schools, six junior high schools, two alternative schools, and 27 elementary schools. Nebo’s population is primarily white and thirty-eight percent of students are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

In 2010, David Wiley from Brigham Young University contacted Nebo school district about piloting an OER program. The pilot was conducted by the Utah Open Textbook Project, a partnership involving BYU, Nebo School District, and the Office of Education. Teachers from Spanish Fork High School, Payson High School, and Payson Junior High School worked together over the summer to develop the first chemistry OER in the district. Brian Blake from Payson High School developed the OER for AP Biology, Biology, and Anatomy.

Digital Learning Footprint

Nebo School District’s leadership supports a digital learning environment and is moving towards a 1:1 computer to student learning environment for all students in all schools over the next several years. Nebo is currently working to remodel the wireless networks over the summer to increase broadband capacity and meet demand. The current system often overloads when there are too many users accessing the internet at the same time.

Payson High School has 400-500 tablet devices for students to use. Payson has three computer labs that are open before and after school, as well as during lunch. Most students have access to the internet at home or through the library. Payson High School is implementing a 1:1 computer to student ratio for all sophomores for the upcoming school year. Spanish Fork High School has approximately 1,000 devices.

Implementation

Implementation of OER

In 2010, David Wiley from Brigham Young University contacted Nebo school district about piloting an OER program. The pilot was conducted by the Utah Open Textbook Project, a partnership involving BYU, Nebo School District, and the Office of Education. Teachers from Spanish Fork High School, Payson High School, and Payson Junior High School worked together over the summer to develop the first science OER in the district.

Tracy Poulsen, Spanish Fork chemistry teacher lead the development of the first chemistry OER in the district. For the first iteration of the OER chemistry materials, the teachers primarily used the content available on the CK-12 platform. The CK-12 website has free open source K-12 materials that can be modified and mixed, as needed. The content was contained in flexbooks, where the teachers selected specific chapters and content to include in the digital materials.

One of the key changes in the chemistry OER from the traditional textbook is that the teachers targeted the state chemistry curriculum in the order in which they wanted to teach the material. Take a look at the 2015-16 Chemistry flexbook.

Poulsen states that in the next school year she is moving towards using the digital version. So far, she has primarily used the printed version in her instruction.

For the printed version, students can analyze what they read on charts and pictures. The flexbook has extra wide margins for note taking and summarizing points. Students can use a highlighter or colored pencil to highlight important ideas. With the flexbook, students are able to create their own content by adding to the materials, furthering self-directed learning.

As Poulsen transitions to using the digital version, she recognizes that one of the benefits is that the content is searchable and that students can edit and add to the materials in new ways. Poulsen states that, “one of the challenges in using the digital version is in developing new ways to actively teach literacy strategies to my students, such as identifying and highlighting important texts and using digital graphic organizers to summarize information”.

Brian Blake from Payson High School developed the OER for AP Biology, Biology, and Anatomy. According to Blake, “the real growth in the Biology OER came when other teachers brought their experiences to the table. Then we had multiple brains of knowledge adding to the content”. Blake states that over the last three years, he has used the Biology OER books in both print and digital format. In the first year, the majority of the higher level students seemed to prefer the printed version because they could highlight, bookmark and personalizing their books for the first time. Overall, the school is working to shift to digital instructional materials and the transition is still in process.

Each summer, teams of district teachers meet to update the OER materials; constantly adding additional resources and images, including student feedback. During this process, reviewers target areas where students are struggling or where they have misconceptions. In addition, specific textbooks were edited to meet the expectations of concurrent enrollment courses at Utah Valley University

All of the science materials are used school-wide. Additionally, three of the five high schools in the district are now using the OER chemistry materials as well as several classes in neighboring districts.

Content Delivery

The Open Textbook Project envisioned that as each new version is readied, the district could distribute the digital content in common standard formats that include PDF, ePub, or HTML; or the district could choose to print out a sufficient quantity on demand and give each student a copy that can be written in, highlighted, and kept.

In Nebo, Payson High School provided the OER materials in both digital and printed formats for students. The materials are available for students, teachers, parents, and administrators. The printed format costs approximately $5 each compared to $80 for a textbook. So far, the print format is the preferred version for educators and students.

Research and Evaluation

Nebo School District does not have specific research to link the use of OERs to student achievement. However, empirical evidence from Poulsen shows that after implementing OERs and teaching literacy strategies, student test scores increased. Blake also reported that he was able to teach learning techniques along with content because the students had a book that was relevant to his specific class and core content.

Each summer, teams of district teachers meet to update the OER materials; constantly adding additional resources and images, including student feedback.

“The real growth in the Biology OER came when other teachers brought their experiences to the table. Then we had multiple brains of knowledge adding to the content.”

Brian Blake, Payson High School Biology Teacher

“I appreciated the fact that I could write notes in my book and underline things that I needed to study. you should definitely keep the practice problems and step-by-step equations, they helped me a ton.”

Spanish Fork High School Student

One of the key changes in the chemistry OER from the traditional textbook is that the teachers targeted the state chemistry curriculum in the order in which they wanted to teach the material.

“Beyond potential cost savings, OERs encourage both teachers and students to be more invested in the content itself. The teacher who selects the content or re-mixes it develops a sense of ownership for that content. The students also recognize that the OER was customized for their class by their own teacher.”

Introductory chemistry text for use by students in Nebo School District general chemistry and concurrent enrollment chemistry. This book targets the Utah State Core Curriculum for chemistry with additional content.

The CK-12 Foundation was created to produce free and open source K-12 materials aligned to state standards. All textbooks—called “flexbooks”— available through CK-12 are free, available online, and customizable.

Vetting

In Utah, school districts make their own decisions in evaluating instructional materials, and may consult the state’s general list of approved materials. In Nebo, Utah, textbook adoption is even more decentralized, with each high school selecting their own textbook and/or instructional materials. Representatives from each high school meet to evaluate the available instructional materials. Ideally, the same courses within the district would use the same textbook, however, each individual school is responsible for funding their acquisition of textbooks/instructional materials, so the schools makes the final decision.

The Open Textbook Project envisioned a district paying its best teachers to work together revising and adapting the initial open textbook to meet specific needs. This custom book would contain a teacher’s edition, instructional supports, explanations, text, practice sets, and assessments. Each summer teachers would invest a small amount of additional time to update the book as needed.

For the first iteration of the OER chemistry and biology materials, teachers primarily used the content available on the CK-12 platform. The CK-12 website has free open source K-12 materials that can be modified and mixed, as needed. The content was contained in flexbooks, where teachers selected specific chapters and content to include in the OER materials.

Review Process

Each summer, teams of district teachers meet to update the OER materials; constantly adding additional resources and images, including student feedback. During this process, reviewers target areas where students are struggling or where they have misconceptions. In addition, specific textbooks were edited to meet the expectations of concurrent enrollment courses at Utah Valley University.

Local Choice

Each school in Nebo school district makes their own decisions for textbook/instructional materials adoption.

Achieve, in collaboration with leaders from the OER community, developed eight rubrics to evaluate the quality of instructional resources. Achieve also partnered with OER Commons to develop an online evaluation tool. OER Commons, an online repository for open education resources, is now hosting the tool and its resulting evaluation data. Resources rated on OER Commons create a pool of metadata, and this metadata will be shared through the Learning Registry with other interested repositories.

Introductory chemistry text for use by students in Nebo School District general chemistry and concurrent enrollment chemistry. This book targets the Utah State Core Curriculum for chemistry with additional content.

Professional Learning

Nebo School District teachers, Poulsen and Blake, have traveled throughout Utah to districts and schools to provide training and information about OER. Paulsen has also presented at various conferences in the state and in California.

Blake is active in the Utah Science Teachers Association and presents at the Career, Technology and Education (CTE) conferences and UCET. Sarah Young, the STEM liaison for the state, and Ricky Scott, the state science specialist at USOE, continue to champion this project and provide support to any district, school, or teacher hoping to learn more about OER.

According to Poulsen, one of the key benefits of the OER materials, especially for new teachers, is that the core instructional content directly ties to the state’s curriculum standards and it is not a generic textbook where one size fits all. The OER materials provide a great starting place that is more manageable for newer teachers. Teachers are part of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) and are collaborating about content on a monthly basis.

“A strong Professional Learning Community (PLC) within your school and beyond is essential for collaboration”

Tracy Poulsen, Spanish Fork High School

Professional Learning

Educators – teachers and administrators – need to be able to choose the technology tools and resources most appropriate for their instructional practices to best meet the needs of students. This necessitates professional learning opportunities in content, programs and applications, as well as ongoing, sustained on-site support for teachers. Sustainable professional learning models, geared specifically to support teachers in student centered, digital learning environments can positively impact the teaching and learning experiences.SETDA’s Professional Learning Overview

Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness for all students requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning. The Learning Forward Standards are general standards for professional learning across K12 that highlight the importance of sustainable, ongoing, job-embedded professional learning opportunities.

Budget

The Open Textbook Project provides a calculator that allows the district to estimate its savings compared to its current textbook scenario. For example, if a district spends $80 per printed textbook for 5,000 students and uses it for six years, that’s an investment of about $400,000 or about $13.33 per student per year. Adopting open educational resources, paying a team of four teachers to update the material each year at $30 per hour for a total of 60 hours, and adding printing would cost about $152,000 or $5 per student per year. (Footnote 32)

Could a $5 textbook really compare to an $80 one? Wiley and his fellow researchers found in a limited experiment that Utah high school students learned the same amount of science in classes using the open textbooks as they did in classes using the traditional textbooks. SETDA Out of Print.

Beyond cost considerations, the research team noted that “OER [allows] teachers and students to remix content in locally meaningful ways, to share a variety of types of learning resources, and to enable the best resources for teaching a specific topic to be more easily found.” SETDA Out of Print.

Budgetary Questions to Consider

What costs would you incur to modify the OER to fit your district/schools learning standards?

Can you provide sufficient time to teachers to identify the OER to be used in the classroom?

What is the cost comparison between using digital OER and printing OER materials?

Lessons Learned

Some of the lessons learned in using OER materials:

Easily scalable – All of the science materials are used school-wide. Additionally, three of the five high schools in the district are now using the OER chemistry materials as well as several classes in neighboring districts.

Difficulty working through the copyright/licensing laws for printing OERs.

Learning how to adapt and not “reinvent the wheel” an OER can start with content that others have created and that is then modified to meet your teaching style.

With OERs you don’t need to be a perfectionist because you can update and change the OER for the next school year.

OERs targeted content is especially helpful for substitute teachers since the OER provides a clear path for instruction.

Students can easily catch up if they are absent since they know what is next in the curriculum since the OERs are designed to match the teacher’s preference for presenting the materials.

Students often felt intimidated by the size of the traditional textbook and extraneous information. With OERs, students know that all the core content is included in the materials.

Students have the ability to be more conscious of their own learning and learn how to become self-learners by adding/modifying their OER materials.

Washington Case Study

In 2012, the state Legislature passed a bill to develop a Washington Reviewed OER Library of high-quality, openly licensed K-12 courseware that is aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and an associated awareness campaign to let districts know about these resources. The OER library provides school districts with a broader selection of materials that can be updated more frequently than traditional textbooks.

Each district determines what they use as instructional materials. This includes OER. Five school districts in Washington State were awarded OER grants to help support district adaptation and implementation of openly licensed educational material aligned with state standards. All content created or modified with Washington OER grant funds is openly licensed and available to everyone. Spokane Public Schools was one of the districts to receive grant funding, and they are highlighted in this case study. Spokane is implementing OER for core materials for all general education teachers, with a concentrated focus on K-8 mathematics. In December 2013, the school board approved the use of EngageNY OER math materials as the interim math curriculum for K-8 students.

State Policies

Washington follows the Hewlett Foundation definition of OER that states: “OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.” The Washington K-12 OER bill clarifies that open courseware “allows others to use, distribute, and create derivative works based upon the digital material, while still allowing the authors to retain the copyright.”

In 2012, the state Legislature passed a bill to develop an OER Library of high-quality, openly licensed K-12 courseware that is aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and an associated awareness campaign to let districts know about these resources The OER library provides school districts with a broader selection of materials that can be updated more frequently than traditional textbooks. School districts can access the openly licensed courseware for free. Instead of purchasing or leasing instructional materials, use of OER creates the potential to move those funds into other areas of critical need like professional development or technology capacity.

As of August 2015, the Office of Public Instruction (OPSI) has conducted three OER review cycles. To date, 24 full-course mathematics curricula and 60 English language arts units have been evaluated by educators across the state. OPSI reviewed these open resources using nationally recognized review instruments and the same methodology as you would review any traditional instructional materials. In the 2015 OER Review Summary, reviewers found a number of resources in both mathematics and ELA that were well-aligned to the CCSS, and worthy of consideration by districts choosing instructional materials. OPSI provides this information to districts, but it does not endorse or require the adoption or use of any specific instructional materials by districts or schools.

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Washington is participating in the K–12 OER Collaborative, which creates high-quality, comprehensive OER resources to support K-12 mathematics and English language arts. The K-12 Collaborative includes 12 states and several supporting organizations, including Learning Accelerator, CCSSO, Achieve, SETDA, and iNACOL.

Washington is participating in the K–12 OER Collaborative, which creates high-quality, comprehensive OER resources to support K-12 mathematics and English language arts. The K-12 Collaborative includes 12 states and several supporting organizations, including Learning Accelerator, CCSSO, Achieve, SETDA, and iNACOL.

Although Washington does not have guidelines or policies on the adoption or use of specific digital content, OSPI has worked with the Washington State School Directors Association on their newest model Instructional Materials Selection and Adoption Policy which recognizes both digital and open educational resources. This policy defines instructional materials as “all materials designed for use by students and their teachers as learning resources to help students to acquire facts, skills, and/or to develop cognitive processes. These instructional materials, used to help students meet state learning standards, may be printed or digital, and may include textbooks, technology-based materials, other educational media, and assessments. They may carry different licensing types from open to all rights reserved.” Washington does not have policies related to educator support for creation of digital content.

The Legislature saw this as an opportunity to “provide districts and students with a broader selection of materials, and materials that are more up-to-date.

“Among the early adopters of OER in our state, the ability to distribute these OER digitally at next to no cost is critical in achieving the cost shifting cited as one of the huge benefits of OER.”

Spokane Public Schools

Spokane Public Schools

Spokane Public Schools (Spokane), located in Spokane County, is the largest school district in eastern Washington with approximately 30,000 students. Spokane includes both urban and rural schools. Nearly 70 percent of the student population is white and 59 percent of students are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. Spokane includes seven high schools, six middle schools, and thirty-four elementary schools. Spokane offers several different school options including schools for gifted and talented students and students with disabilities.

Digital Footprint

Spokane supports a blended learning and virtual learning environment that encourages equitable access to education. The Spokane Virtual Learning (SVL) curriculum is aligned to state standards and created at the district level. Spokane’s blended learning program supports schools with one blended learning teacher per school. In addition, the educational technology department supports all schools in implementing the district’s technology plan and standards. Schools in Spokane are generally between a 1:2 and 1:4 computer to student ratio learning environment. Spokane is in their first large-scale implementation of OER materials for core materials for all general education teachers, with a concentrated focus on K-8 mathematics.

Implementation

Spokane Public Schools received a grant from the state to help in their implementation of the EngageNY math curriculum. Spokane chose the Engage NY math curriculum for all its K-8 students and is in their first large-scale implementation of OER for all general education teachers, with a concentrated focus on K-8 mathematics. Engage NY includes free open resources aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which was a critical requirement in the instructional materials selection process. The New York State Education Department designed EngageNY using a federal education grant to create a K-12 math curriculum aligned to the CCSS. EngageNY recently added curriculum maps, which allow educators to quickly locate materials in either English Language Arts or Mathematics at any grade level. One of the reasons, Spokane chose EngageNY curriculum because it combines procedures and concepts with practice problems, and contextual understanding. For example, in Module 2 for 7th grade math, students can play the Integer Card Game, to form a conceptual understanding of integers. The module describes how the integer card game can be incorporated in each of the lessons. It also includes lesson exit tickets fluency exercises, and assessments.

Content Delivery

Spokane completed extensive field testing of the OER before a two-year roll out. Field tests included one or two units per grade with professional development sessions to support teachers. In the first year, 95% of teachers decided to use the OER. For the K-8 OER math implementation, 100% of the content is available digitally. Teachers can access online teacher guides and student books. Teachers can also access online exit tickets, homework, sprints, and fluencies, allowing teachers to easily differentiate instruction for students. Spokane has an online homework help math page that includes lessons, tutorials, and videos.

Spokane uploads OER materials to their learning management system (LMS). The LMS is only accessible by administrators and teachers, and allows the teachers to access the course materials from work, as well as home. The LMS includes K-6 long range plans, cross content road maps, standards-based grading and reporting focus documents, program guides, workshop model examples and expectations, newsletters, and interactive whiteboard lesson files and resources.

Spokane also provides logistical support for teachers including printing, purchasing and organizing of course manipulatives. Spokane prints teacher guides and student books for the teachers and students. Teachers and students can use either the printed or digital version of the OER materials.

Challenges
Currently, the WA OER Project is working to help address printing challenges by creating OER User Groups to provide support for those first adopters and a platform to share best practices and implementation resources. For example, the newly emerging EngageNY Mathematics User Group will include guidance from existing users as to what portions of the materials are critical to print and what sections are appropriate for whole classroom display or other delivery mechanisms.

We use an LMS that is only accessible by administrators and teachers. It allows us to access the course materials from work, as well as home.

Vetting

Each district determines what they use as instructional materials. This includes OER. Five school districts in Washington State were awarded Open Educational Resources (OER) grants to help support district adaptation and implementation of openly licensed educational material aligned with state standards. All content created or modified with Washington OER grant funds is openly licensed and available to everyone. Spokane Public Schools was one of the districts to receive grant funding, and they are highlighted in this case study.

In this instance, Spokane did not go through the traditional instructional materials adoption process. In December 2013, the school board approved the use of EngageNY OER math materials as the interim math curriculum for K-8 students. At this time, the school board did not believe that book publishers had developed a math curriculum that aligned to the Common Core State Standards adopted by Washington and 45 other states. The following is an approved list of instructional materials, including OER: Middle School Textbooks/Materials.

“”The ability to modify materials to meet the needs of districts’ student populations is one of the most powerful and empowering features of OER. Use of open resources also creates the potential for districts to shift funding from textbook purchases to other critical areas of need like professional development or increasing technology capacity at schools.”

Achieve, in collaboration with leaders from the OER community, developed eight rubrics to evaluate the quality of instructional resources. Achieve also partnered with OER Commons to develop an online evaluation tool. OER Commons, an online repository for open education resources, is now hosting the tool and its resulting evaluation data. Resources rated on OER Commons create a pool of metadata, and this metadata will be shared through the Learning Registry with other interested repositories.

Five school districts in Washington state were awarded a total of $90,000 in Open Educational Resources (OER) grants. The awards will help support district adaptation and implementation of openly licensed educational material aligned with state standards. All content created or modified with Washington OER grant funds will be openly licensed and available to everyone.

Professional Learning

Spokane has provided over twenty hours of training and support for teachers. Teacher leaders share resources on the LMS and through on-going professional development. Spokane utilizes the train the trainer model for professional learning. Spokane provides professional development for their teachers through the Teaching and Learning Summer Institute. Last year, Spokane conducted five sessions for one hour each for trainers and four sessions for two hours each for teachers.

Spokane offered training to surrounding districts on the implementation and delivery of the K-8 OER curriculum, as well as shared their processes and insights with other regional districts and states, including Alaska. Spokane also partnered with other participating districts to develop newsletters and videos to explain how to effectively use the OER math curriculum, homework, and supporting materials including interactive whiteboard support resources.

“The effectiveness of professional learning is the leverage point with the greatest potential for strengthening and refining the day-to-day performance of educators.” – Learning Forward

Spokane has an LMS that is only accessible by administrators and teachers, and allows the teachers to access the course materials from work, as well as home.

Professional Learning

Educators – teachers and administrators – need to be able to choose the technology tools and resources most appropriate for their instructional practices to best meet the needs of students. This necessitates professional learning opportunities in content, programs and applications, as well as ongoing, sustained on-site support for teachers. Sustainable professional learning models, geared specifically to support teachers in student centered, digital learning environments can positively impact the teaching and learning experiences.SETDA’s Professional Learning Overview

Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness for all students requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning. The Learning Forward Standards are general standards for professional learning across K12 that highlight the importance of sustainable, ongoing, job-embedded professional learning opportunities.

Budget

Schools in Spokane are generally between a 1:2 and 1:4 student to computer (device) learning environment, so not every student has access to a device in the classroom. Spokane incurred significant costs when printing the EngageNY materials for students.

The Washington OER Project is working to help address printing challenges by creating OER User Groups to provide support for those first adopters and a platform to share best practices and implementation resources. For example, the newly emerging EngageNY Mathematics User Group will include guidance from existing users as to what portions of the materials are critical to print and what sections are appropriate for whole classroom display or other delivery mechanisms.

Budgetary Questions to Consider

What costs would you incur to modify the OER to fit your district/schools learning standards?

Can you provide sufficient time to teachers to identify the OER to be used in the classroom?

What is the cost comparison between using digital OER and printing OER materials?

Developed newsletters and videos for the community to explain how to effectively use the OER math curriculum, homework, and supporting materials.

Lack of available technology (devices) in the classroom for all students to have access to the digital version of the OER. Students in Spokane schools are currently in a 1:2 to 1:4 student to computer (device) learning environment.

Printing costs can be reduced by deciding what parts of the modules to print for teachers and students

Adequate training and support for teachers is critical as they make the transition from using textbooks in instructional practice to using OER effectively.

Founded in 2001, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the principal non-profit membership association representing U.S. state and territorial educational technology leaders. Our mission is to build and increase the capacity of state and national leaders to improve education through technology policy and practice. For more information, please visit: setda.org.

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